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Verizon iPhone: Early sales suspended after record first day for carrierFeb 04, 2011 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Verizon Wireless has ended early ordering for Apple's iPhone 4. While not releasing exact numbers, the carrier today said it had record first-day sales for the phone. Verizon suspended iPhone 4 sales at 5:10 p.m. PST on Thursday. First-day sales were limited to Verizon's existing customers. "This was an exciting day," Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead said in a news release today. "In just our first two hours, we had already sold more phones than any first-day launch in our history." With heavy demand for the iPhone 4, numerous tech blogs reported that Verizon's website was overloaded for some customers, especially during the early morning hours. Mead, however, said that "overall, it was a very good day." "I am proud of our employees who worked tirelessly to strengthen and scale our systems," he said. Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White noted in an e-mail this morning that demand for the Verizon iPhone "was much stronger than originally expected." "We believe this is quite a statement around the pent-up demand from Verizon customers for the iPhone 4 and we believe this speaks to the potential trajectory of demand with Verizon in 2011," White wrote. "This also provides just another example of why we believe the voracious appetite for Apple products is not yet reflected in the stock price." In-person sales will begin at 7 a.m. Thursday at Apple Stores and Verizon Wireless stores. The device also will be available at Best Buy and some Wal-Mart stores. Customers also can order online at the Apple or Verizon websites beginning Wednesday. At 8:29 a.m. PST, Apple stock was at $345.56, up $2.12, or 0.6 percent, from Thursday's closing price. Shares of Verizon Communications, which owns a 55 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, dropped 24 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $36.14. Contact Frank Russell at 408-920-5876. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercspike. To see more of the San Jose Mercury News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mercurynews.com. Copyright (c) 2011, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |